Combination garment



. March 1, 1938. s, s, PEDLAR COMBINATION GARMENT Filed Jan. 12, 1957 INVENTOR SYLV/fl S. PEDLHR',

ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 1, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COMBINATION GARMENT Sylvia S. Pedlar, New York, N. Y.

Application January 12, 1937, Serial No. 120,167

1 Claim.

This invention relates to articles of clothing, and more particularly, to ladies combination garments.

When a petticoat is worn it has a tendency to slip down from its proper position thereby showing at the bottom of the outer garment. When thus displaced, the petticoat presents an unat- .tractive appearance and also results in physical discomfort to the wearer. It is, therefore, an

objection and for that purpose to provide means for preventing displacement of the petticoat from its proper position on the wearer.

When upper garments, such as shirt-waists or blouses, are worn frequent annoyance to the wearer results from the bottom of the shirtwaist or blouse creeping up and often pulling vout of the upper portion of the skirt especially when the wearer raises her arms or bends over. It is, therefore, another object of the present invention to eliminate this objection and for that purpose to prevent the waist or blouse from creeping up or pulling out of the skirt.

Another difficulty which is encountered by wearers of shirt-waist and skirt outfits, which are frequently worn as parts of ladies and misses suits, is due to the fact that the bottom edge portion of the blouse forms a ridge which is very noticeable and therefore highly objectionable, especially when the outer skirt is made of relatively thin material. A further object of the invention" is to obviate this objection.

Another object of the invention is to provide a combination garment comprising a blouse or similar upper garment of washable material and 2. petticoat or other nether garment of nonwashable material constructed and arranged to permit the blouse or other upper garment to be readily removed from the petticoat or other nether garment so that the blouse can be washed independently of the petticoat and so that difobject of the present invention to obviate this Fig. 1 is a front. View of a combination. garment embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 with the outer skirt of the garment removed;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the waist-encircling portions of the upper and nether garments;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional View on the line 44 of Fig. 2. a

In accomplishing the objects of the present in-- vention, the upper and nether garments, for example the blouse and the petticoat, are separably attached in the region of their waist-encircling portions, specifically at the lower edge of the waist and at the upper edge of the petticoat, with slide operated fastener stringers having separable end connecting members which are disposed adjacent one side of said plackets. Said stringers have interlocking elements secured to their confronting edges and operated by a slider to cause the interlocking elements to mesh and unmesh when the slider is moved longitudinally of the stringers. There are numerous slide fasteners of this type available, one such fastener being shown in United States Letters Patent No. 1,219,881. Likewise, there are numerous slide fastener constructions including separable end connecting members, which are suitable for accomplishing the objects of the present invention, and one such]. slide fastener construction is shown in United States Letters Patent No. 1,893,823. In the present garment, the stringers extend continuously from a point at one side of the plackets, where the separable end connecting members are positioned, around the front, the opposite side and back of the garment, to the other side of; the plackets. At said other side, the stringers are provided with conventional end stop members which prevent movement of the slider off the stringers.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, there is shown a combination garment including an upper garment l0, such as a ladies shirt-waist or blouse, and a nether garment I2, such as a petticoat'or under skirt over which the usual outer skirt I4 is worn, and fastened in any suitable manner as by a belt l6 which ordinarily is attached to the skirt. Ordinarily, the upper garment will be made of washable material and the nether garment will be made of non-washable material, for example taffeta. A slide fastener stringer I8 is secured by stitching 20 (Fig. 4) to the lower edge of the waist and extends completely therearound from a point at one side of the waist placket 22 (Fig. 3) to a point at the engaged from each other by a slider 34.

other side or said placket. Similarly, a slide fastener stringer 24 is attached to the upper edge of the petticoat I2 by stitching 26 and extends completely therearound coextensively with the stringer Hi from a point at one side of the skirt placket 28 to a point at the other side of said placket. Said plackets may be fastened and unfastened by means of separable fastener elements, such as snap fasteners 30. The stringers I8 and 24 are provided with conventional interlocking elements 32 which are engaged and dis- Said stringers are also provided with separable end connecting members constituted by a socket member 36 carried by one of the stringers, here shown as the stringer 24, and a pin 38 carried by the stringer l8 and removably engageable in the socket 36. Said separable end connecting members are positioned at one end of the stringers at one side of the plackets 22 and 28, while the other ends of the stringers at the other side of said plackets are provided with stop members 40 of any suitable construction for preventing the movement of the slider 34 oh the stringers at said end, it being understood that the separable end connecting member 36 prevents the movement of the slider 34 ofi the stringer 24 when the latter is entirely disconnected from the companion stringer l8.

It will be observed that the stringers I8 and 24 are attached to the inside of the waist and petticoat, respectively, and that only the interlocking elements 32 and the corded edges l9 and 25 of the stringers l8 and 24, respectively, extend beyond the edges of the waist and pettlcoat to which the stringers are attached. By reason of this construction a smooth surface is provided at the attached edges of the waist and petticoat, thus eliminating any ridge or bulging portion at or in the region of the waist-encircling portions of the garments.

In the drawing, the waist and petticoat are shown completely attached, the slider, as illustrated in Fig. 3, being adjacent to the stop members 40 at one side of the plackets 22 and 28. The combination garment can be put on and taken off as a unit without disconnecting any portion of the slide fastener stringers as the plackets 22 and 28 when unfastened are ordinarily suflicient to permit the garment to be put on and taken off in the usual manner, although this may be facilitated by unmeshing some of the interlocking elements 32 adjacent the stop members 40.

When it is desired to separate the waist ID from the petticoat or skirt I2, either for the purpose of washing the waist, or when it is desired to change the waist it is merely necessary to move the slider 34 from its position shown in Fig, 3 at one side of the plackets 22 and 28, along the stringers l8 and 24, to a point at the other side of said plackets at which the separable end con necting members 36 and 38 are located. When the slider is thus moved so that it engages the separable end connecting member 36, the other separable end connecting member 38 may be withdrawn through the slider thereby completely separating the fastener stringers l8 and 24 and simultaneously completely separating the waist and petticoat from each other. When it is desired to again attach the waist to or other upper garment to the petticoat i2 or to another nether garment, this may be readily done by inserting the separable end connecting member through the slider passage when said slider abuts the other separable end connecting member and then moving said slider longitudinally of the stringers to a position adjacent the stop members.

4 Thus, it is seen that the garment construction herein shown or described is well adapted to accomplish the several objects of the present invention. However, as many changes in the details of the construction and arrangement of parts may be made, and will suggest themselves, in view of the present disclosures, I do not wish to be limited to the precise construction herein shown or described, except as may be required by the appended claim considered with reference to the prior art.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A combination womens garment comprising a transversely-continuous skirt and a transverselycontinuous top portion adapted to cover the bust of the wearer, the upper edge of theskirt and the lower edge of said top portion terminatingopposite each other at the waist of the/ wearer, said top portion having a placket extending upwardly from its lower edge at one side under an arm of the wearer, said skirt having a placket in one side thereof extending downwardly from its upper edge, and in alignment with the placket in said top portion, means for releasably holding the opposite sides of each of said plackets together, a. stringer of a body-encircling slide fastener secured to the lower edge of said top portion and extending substantially from one edge of the placket therein to the other edge thereof, the interlocking elements of said stringer extending below the lower edge of said top portion, the other stringer of said slide fastener being secured to the upper edge of said skirt and extencling substantially from one edge of the placket' therein to the, other edge thereof, the interlocking elements of said second stringer extending above the upper edge of said skirt, and a slide for releasably connecting the projecting interlocking elements of said stringers whereby said skirt and said top portion are detachably con nected without overlapping and the garment presents a continuous, unbroken line across the front.

SYLVIA S. PEDLAR. 

